the thai government. an on line petition attracted tens of thousands of signatures saying she should now live in a natural habitat and moved to a thai sanctuary. more on all these stories at aljazeera.com. florida governor takes action over the zika virus as cases spread in the u.s. in new hampshire, the president candidacy squabble over political labors while the gop front runner accuses another in iowa of cheating. picking up the pieces, residents clean up after tornadoes tear through two southern states.

this is aljazeera america live from new york city. parts of florida are now under a state of emergency, as new cases of the zika virus pop up across the u.s. nine people have been diagnosed with the virus in four counties across florida. doctors believe those cases were contracted abroad. florida gun wants his state to be prepared. >> miami has long been known as the gateway to the americas and borne out by the international airport. every day 40,000 passengers arrive from or go to latin america and the caribbean.

it makes florida vulnerable. some of florida's most senior politicians voids their concerns that miami international airport may not be able to cope with the zika virus. experts we spoke to say getting back to basics may help the most. >> almost all experts expect locally transmitted cases at some point in the united states. >> the university of miami has been studying infectious diseases for years. there is nothing new in how communities can adapt and respond to the zika virus. florida already has programs in place to battle the mosquito that spreads dengue fever, chickengunya and the zika virus. he says improving positions globally and accurately diagnosing those who fall. >> to me, it's getting back to the basics, diagnostic, basic science on what is transmitting,

trying to get a perfect diagnosis on every patient in the world. officials here have no plans to implement any special measures to combat the zika virus, but say it's people who will make the biggest difference. >> we are appealing to the public, appealing to the homeowners to do their job. they are called to play a major role right now in preventing the disease getting established in our county by eliminating every single accumulation of water around a home. >> as yet, there are no federal guidelines in response to a potential outbreak in florida. that may change as the weather gets warmer. officials say it's education programs and the public's role will be crucial. the c.d.c. said jamaica and tonga are now on the travel

alert lists, bringing the numbers of countries to 30. this week, ireland has reported its first two cases of the virus. health officials in brazil have identified two cases of the zika virus transmitted through blood transfusions. they were both reported in sao paulo stated and contracted early last year. the american red cross is asking potential blood donors to wait at least 28 days before donating. this morning, there are calls for more accountability over the water crisis in flint. some michigan officials went before a congressional panel wednesday but the governor and former city manager did not attend. while officials point fingers and lay blame for the bad water in flint, there are people living with the situation every day. >> this family lives in a flint neighborhood believed to be one of the hottest spots for contamination according to a study that blew over the water

crisis last fall. it's the dreaded burgundy zone. >> thank god we've been doing what we have for so long. >> her kids tested low for levels of lead. the family gave up on flint water months ago and switched to bottled water when symptoms started showing up. >> so my daughter, her allergies started flaring up. it would be a big eye one day, in increasant sneezing another. >> the homes vary widely. when someone gets their water tested for lead, it can take five weeks to get results, a lot of time to think about it. >> how do you begin to not use any water at all when you turn on the tap water around it comes out? it's taunting to use it.

>> young mothers with no formal education, she's imploring her clients to get their kids tested for lead. she's also telling them that high levels of lead aren't the only problem. the e.p.a. is sending out teams this week to check for low levels of chlorine in homes. if it is too low, it's not keeping bacteria out of the water and the e.p.a. determined that the christ enrichment center doesn't have enough chlorine in the water, exposing them to bacteria. >> then you go back and say my goodness, how many lunches have i had, how many times have i gone to the restroom where my hands haven't been clean. it's like a play back. >> for residents, confusion is king. >> i just can't. as much as i need to know what's going on, i just can't take a new piece of information. >> al jazeera, flint, michigan. this morning, the u.s. is

pledging $600 million for to help with the humanitarian crisis in syria. that's part of a major conference underway in london. the u.n. suspended peace talks only three days after they began. we have more on what led to the break down in talks. >> the talks were halted because the opposition were about to pull out of the talks and the whole process was going to collapse, so for that reason, i think the u.n. felt the best option was to announce a pause, a delay for three weeks and this was the announcement made by the u.n. special envoy. >> there's more work to be done, not only by us, we have done our part, by by the stakeholders who have been telling us the countries go and start this initiative. >> staffan de mistura speaking in geneva. i can tell you that he, like me, in fact has made his way in the last couple of hours from geneva to here in london.

i saw him as he arrived here. he told me that he was going straight away to brief the u.n. secretary general, ban ki-moon to give him his candid and frank assessment of the situation. i can also tell you that i've been speaking to another u.n. insider, who is involved with the de mistura team and this insider told me that they felt the situation was very difficult now. it's going to be very hard to put this process back together. yes, they've announced delay, but they fear that the russian bombardment and the syrian military advance will continue. if that happens, it's going to be very hard to explain to the opposition block that they should come back to the negotiating table, because they feel that they were given assurances and they have been misled. the u.n. is asking for $9 billion in aid from international donors. germany pledged $2.6 billion and the u.k. has already given $1.75 billion. along with the humanitarian crisis in syria, the u.n. says

it is concerned there could be another humanitarian disaster in iraq. people in fallujah are going hungry, trapped between isil and government forces. we have more from baghdad. >> although it's not a humanitarian disaster yet, there is real concern that the situation in fallujah could escalate. it's desperate now. we've been speaking to people inside the city. they tell us that the markets are out of food, new fruits, vegetables, meat. they're saying that the medical supplies are running low. one mother told us there is no baby milk supplies within the city and she is struggling to feed her child. the governor of anbar province appealed to the u.s., saying there needs to be an air drop into the city of supplies, however, he is a lone voice. none of the aid agencies so far have commented on the situation yet. the iraqi security forces took the city of rimadi as they were

doing that, they cut off a key supply line, which is the palestinian bridge and besieged the city of fallujah, no food or any other supplies are getting into fallujah. now this is a common tactic. we've seen iraqi security forces besiege cities before, they go in and take those cities from isil, however there is 5,000 families, 110,000 people trapped within the city itself. if supplies don't get in, it will become a humanitarian disaster. iraqis say this is part of the military campaign to go and take that city from isil. isil control that city. the only food stuff they have is stockpiles of wheat. they are rationing that out to the people of fallujah, but there isn't enough to go around. if something isn't done soon, that city will face a humanitarian disaster. >> isil has been in control of fallujah now for more than with two years.

jewel colonel steve warren joined us earlier. >> opening corridors into fallujah are being worked on to help control the problem. unfortunately, daish is not cooperative. it's in fact this enemy who is starving out these people. >> do you know if air drops are being considered if the siege continues there? >> well, we have to think about air drops, right? when you drop supplies into an occupied city, you have to ask yourself who will get those splice and usually it's the people with the guns. >> last time that you were on with us, back in december, iraqi forces had retaken the government center in rimadi, but isil is counterattacking and has been for weeks. this week alone, 13 iraqi soldiers have been killed. how concerned are you about

iraqi forces ability to hold rimadi? >> iraqi forces will be able to hold rimadi. these counterattacks have been effective across the board. there will be a suicide truck or sniper team or a two man team with an r.p.g., certainly nothing with the combat power that would be required to retake rimadi. >> let's talk about the other major battle in the offing. isil's stronghold in iraq is mosul. are the iraqis prepared to retake mosul as of today without ground assistance by the coalition? >> the iraqis are generating what we call the combat power that's going to be necessary to seize that city. it will take time. we've already trained 20,000 iraqi soldiers. we will have to train many thousand more before the iraqi military has built up enough capability to take that city. this enemy can be beaten but for it to be a victory that sticks, that victory has to come from

indigenous forces. the u.n. democratic special representative to iraq received two unverified reports of two people who died from hunger. sources within the city reported two deaths from a lack of in license to treat diabetes. dozens in georgia are in temporary housing, forced to move when a tornado touched down on the base near savannah. base officials say dozens were relocated. the same system that brought that severe weather is not done. let's bring in nicole mitchell for more. >> that video we were just watching, that tornado on the ground for 10 minutes, that's scary stuff. here's bringing us back to yesterday about this time. you can see the line and all the different pings, oranges are wind reports. the video we saw was from georgia. the south carolina one went over

half a mile on the ground, so a lot of problems yesterday. today we're still dealing with the rainy side of this. won days ago, the severe weather was added worst be a a few less reports yesterday and pretty isolated reports if we see any today. the rain is still a problem, you can see the coast has made it a lot of the mid atlantic northward off the coastline. here's what happened. along this boundary, a low pressure develops. right along the coast, overnight for places like philadelphia or new york early in the morning when it's cold enough could mix in snow where we could see more accumulations, somewhere like boston one to three-inches and more clears out. it's more the nuisance snow, but that can be a nuisance for us. temperatures are still pretty mild and go down tomorrow. it has remind mild on the west coast. the next system here is going to be mostly rain except for higher

elevations. he can see some of that as it moves across the region, but it's a couple rounds. by the weekend, places like the washington coastline, half an inch of rain not out of the question, or half a foot of rain, sorry. half a foot. nicole, thank you. on the campaign trail in new hampshire, candidates scramble for support with just days to go before the primary. a controversy drug c.e.o. who raised one drug 5000% goes before congress.

>> from rural midwest to war-torn mideast. she went for the money and found a greater calling...

a who's who is gathered at national prayer breakfast which states back to 1963. house speaker paul line, the president and first lady attended. the president spoke with the issues facing the country. >> as a student of history, i often remind people the challenges we face are not unique, that in fact, the threats of previous eras, civil war or word war or cold war, depressions or famines, those challenges put our own in perspective. >> this is president obama's eighth and final address to the prayer breakfast.

the new hampshire primary is five days away and hillary clinton and bernie sanders debate tonight for the last time before voters get to decide. last night they talked to voters at a town hall. they did trade jobs over policy differences, like clinton's ties to wall street. >> the republicans are also campaigning today. donald thump is threatening to sue in iowa, saying ted cruz committed fraud to win and either a new election should take place or cruz's results enough filed. cruz called the complaints a trumper tantrum. voters are still undecided who they will support next week, putting candidates on a sprint to get face-to-face with as many voters as possible. we have this report from new hampshire. >> it's now game time. we've got six days to go. >> on the campaign trail, republicans crisscross new hampshire as they make the case

to become the next commander in chief. hoping to ride the momentum from his strong showing in iowa, senator marco rubio is slated to do 100 events in new hampshire. this is his 77th. his campaign raised $2 million since the iowa caucus. >> i just love his message, honestly. i think it's very positive. i love that he's very concerned about leaving an amazing country for my kids. >> not everyone is convinced. a third of voters are still undecided. like this small business owner. >> when i listen to marco rubio talk, what strikes me is that he's bashing the other party and i've heard it from other candidates, as well, and it takes them down a notch for me. i really don't want to hear that. >> voters packed events to hear

from governor john kasich who is neck to neck with rubio, standing next to a national clock of debt increasing every second, he insists he will get debt down and cut taxes. with poll numbers not high, he admits new hampshire is his last gasp. >> if i gets smoked here, what does that mean? i get trounced. i'm going to ohio. >> this couple came from tennessee to help kasich's campaign. >> we've knocked on doors and those answering have been overwhelmingly consider org committed. >> fresh off his win in iowa. >> everyone said that trump had it won, it was over, it was done, there was nothing you could do about it. >> senator ted cruz seemed to draw the laudest cheers on wednesday, despite running well behind donald trump in most polls here. >> just won iowa, so i figured i needing to learn about him.

>> 19-year-old college student is not the only one undecided here. some folks still haven't picked a party yet. >> democrats are saying good things, the republicans are saying good things. i wish there was a way that we could just incorporate all the good ideas and have a good runs candidate. >> erica pitzi, al jazeera. julian assange will turn himself in if a u.n. panel said he should. he has been in ecuador's embassy in london. he is wanted in a sex crimes investigation. he long claimed the investigation is a ruse to have him extra dated to the u.s. for leaking classified documents on wikileaks. the sexual assault case against bill cosby is moving forward. a preliminary hearing is next to see if there is enough evidence to put cosby on trial. the man who received international scorn by jacking up the price of an aids drug is

appearing before congress this morning. martin shkreli pleaded the fifty about why drugs cost so much. john henry smith has more about why he is so controversial. >> martin shkreli has been told by his lawyer to stop talking. >> these patients deserve a drug company that is turning a profit, fair profit and also developing a drug that is better for them. >> the former c.e.o. defends himself after raising the price of a drug to $750 a pill. people suffering aids, malaria and cancer depend on the medication to fight a parasitic infection. after word spread of the price hike, hillary clinton tweeted price gouging like this in the

specialty drug market is outrageous. he did not relent until last fall when he was arrested on federal security fraud charges. he is accused of running a ponzi scheme and bilking investors out of $11 million. of the drug company and in recent months, he feuded with a member of the clan over shkreli's over he beship of the only copy of one of the group's albums. the i.r.s. system used to accept he filed returns stopped working. the i.r.s. blames a computer hardware failure. the agency is making repairs and doesn't anticipate major disruptions. a new warning for women over alcohol, the government guidelines called an overreach.

more air bag problems to tell you about this morning, honda is recalling more than 2 million vehicles equipped to potentially takata airbags, 2005-2016 acura and honda mad else. the recall is a precaution. another 5 million cars from honda, fiat and chrysler cars are recalled over a separate issue, the airbags made by continental systems. they may not deploy in a crash or could go off without warning in cars built between 2006-2010.

there is controversy over new died lines over pregnancy and drinking. the c.d.c. warned of the risks. critics say they actually shame women. >> alcohol and pregnancy do not mix. the medical community warned women against drinking alcohol while pregnant. new guidelines from the c.d.c. take this one step further, recommend 15-44-year-old woman not drink any alcohol unless they're on birth control. >> right now, we know that the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is associated with even small amounts of alcohol consumption and pregnancy. >> the guidelines aim at curbing health defects in developing babies before the mother know they are pregnant. most women won't know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking. the risk is real, why take the chance? the announcement is generating criticism mainly for leaving men out of the equation.

on facebook, brianna writes why isn't the c.d.c. recommendig that men stop having sex with women if they aren't using birth control? >> yes, let's mandate women show birth control use with their i.d. when purchasing alcohol or before being permitted to a bar. one said ban reproductive age women from buying deli meat and entering sushi restaurants. >> the cdc says more than 3 million drink, are sexually active and not using birth control and at risk of exposing their baby to alcohol if they become pregnant. more good news in former president jimmy carter's battle with cancer, a scan of his torso showed no signs of melanoma. in december, he said it was also gone from his brain. he credits a a new immuno therapy drug. is still undergoing treatment. he is 91. the news continues next live from doha. have a great day.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to the news hour, i'm sami zeidan in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. syria talks suspended. the war rages on as world leaders in london made an urgent plea for aid. italy demands an investigation into the death of a student who disappeared in cairo. [ explosion ] >> protests bring athens to a stand still as thousands of